Don Padgett III

Executive director, World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational

Don Padgett III has enjoyed a pretty distinguished career on the golf course: He ranks 12th on the career scoring average list at Indiana University, and he went toe-to-toe with Tiger Woods at the 1991 U.S. Junior Amateur, the first of Mr. Woods' three U.S. Junior Amateur titles.

Lucky for Northeast Ohio charities, his career off the course has been even more productive.

Mr. Padgett for the last four years has been executive director of the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, played at Firestone Country Club in Akron late each summer. All net proceeds from the tournament are given to Northern Ohio Golf Charities, a nonprofit that then distributes the funds to organizations throughout Northeast Ohio.

Since Mr. Padgett took over, that total amounts to about $2.75 million. The tournament employs an army of 1,000 volunteers that keep it running, and officials point to broadening it from an Akron-specific event to one pitched to Northeast Ohio as a whole as responsible for sustained success.

Attendance at the 2010 event jumped 18% over 2009, while revenue, Mr. Padgett said, was up “double digits.”

“He's very closely developed a strong host committee of local business people, the people very interested in developing the region economically,” said Peter Kent, the PGA Tour's vice president of championship management business affairs, based in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

“He's kept that group synced, and that's very critical to us,” Mr. Kent said. “Our proceeds go back to charity; we must be very connected to our communities, and I think other (tournament cities) may have taken that for granted.”

Mr. Padgett also helped keep Bridgestone in the fold for five more years, as the tiremaker — now also an emerging golf equipment manufacturer — signed a five-year agreement, through 2014, to remain the tournament's title sponsor.

His father, also Don, worked at Firestone Country Club for 24 years, providing his son an early start on the course and in getting to know PGA Tour representatives. The elder Mr. Padgett is president at the famed Pinehurst Country Club in Pinehurst, N.C., the course the younger Mr. Padgett lists as his favorite.

Don Padgett III — who works civically with the Summit County Visitors Bureau, Greater Akron Chamber, First Tee branches in Akron, Canton and Cleveland, and Bluecoats Inc. — and his wife, Kellie, live in Green. They have three children, ages 5, 3 and 1.

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